In a live-chat with the public on The Guardian's website on Monday, Snowden singled out the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Obama had vowed to close, as an example of a broken promise.

“Obama’s campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly," he said in reponse to reader questions.

"Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programmes, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.”

Snowden was bullish about the prospect of the US administration taking action against him.

“If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response,” he said.

This comes despite the results of a new Pew Research poll showing that a majority of respondents think the US government should pursue a criminal case against Snowden for his disclosures.

Despite the harsh words Snowden had for the Obama administration, he did suggest that it might not be too late for Obama to change course and redeem himself in his eyes:

“[Obama] still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”